


You Started This

by KizzaKiriki



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I started this a long while ago and my writing had improved a lot along the way, Major Character Death in later chapters, but with death, like all the good fluff sotries, nothing to worry over too much, so if it reads poorly at the beginning please don't be disheartened, transgender pyro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:04:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4133451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KizzaKiriki/pseuds/KizzaKiriki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the most hardened mercenaries can grow a soft spot for a special someone, but what happens when that special someone is on the opposite team? What about when that someone is the most secretive and arguably the most dangerous member of the enemy team? After being spared by the enemy Pyro, the RED Sniper finds himself forming feelings for the mumbling alien.  <br/>[I started this back in late junior high so the writing is really iffy at the start- hopefully my college student ass is doing a better job with the chapters in the late 20's]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Bad Choice to be Quite Honest

The air was hot and dry. It was getting to the middle of summer and the temperatures in the gravel pits were steadily rising every day. Footsteps tromped overhead as the firebug swam under the bridge in to the enemy base. They couldn’t exactly tell if in was their team, or if it was the reds, but Pyro was sure it was a scout and soldier. The pyro waited in the tunnel for a moment as the splashing sounds calmed a bit and, after not hearing the beep of a sentry, continued on their marry way to the depths of the RED base.  


They waited for a moment for a freshly respawned demoman to charge out the front gates before proceeding. Once they reached the opening, the pyro made a quick right up the stairs. Yes, it would be easy enough to turn left and head for the intel, but pyro knew it wasn’t their job. Besides, what if they actually had gotten the intel? The pyro knew they were nowhere near fast enough to get away from an enemy, and it was nearly impossible to get past a sentry on your own.  


No, getting the intelligence was not the pyro’s job, but they had an equally important one. Pyro stepped lightly onto the balcony of the RED base after waiting and listening for the respawn room to clear out, and of course he was there. He always was, sniping was his job after all! A quick air blast sent the Australian flying in to the opposing wall, just in time to make him miss the BLU scout that was coming over the bridge roofing,  


“Nice one mumbles,” The Bostonian shouted back to the pyro as he ran past. They knew Scout wouldn’t be anywhere close enough to respond, so they simply smiled to themself under their mask and decided to attend to the sniper. One airblast wouldn’t kill someone, so the job needed finishing. The BLU could hear a groan from inside the small resupply room that they had blasted the sniper into as they approached, and couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of the sniper. His lanky limbs were sprawled out on the floor- one groped for his hat and placed it heavily back on his head. Seems like hitting the wall really threw him for a loop… He almost looked harmless on the floor like he was. The Pyro kneeled by the enemy sniper to get a better look at the dazed subject, what was the harm anyway? He seemed to have a concussion and would be of little threat!  


He looked almost exactly like their Sniper, save for the fact that the BLU sniper always grew out his beard instead of shaving it to stubble. They ran a finger over a scar on the aussie’s left cheek, when suddenly the Australian’s hand flew up and grasped the pyro’s wrist, causing a small screech on surprise and a flinch.  


The sniper did nothing. He held pyro’s hand tight enough that they couldn’t easily escape, but other than that he just stared from behind cracked sunglasses. They tugged against his grip and huffed, they didn’t want to have to kill him yet! It may have happened every day, but it was tiring to the firebug to never get to really see who they were killing. They just wanted to know someone for once… oh well. Before the Pyro had a chance to grab their fire axe, the sniper groaned and let go of their gloved hand,  


“bloody hell… if you’re going to kill me do it with your shotgun… “His voice sounded wet, like he was talking through blood. Air blasts at short range to walls did do a good bit of damage, but they supposed if the sniper was already hurt it might have just done him in.  


The pyro stood and gathered their weapons, lastly picking up their shotgun. They looked down at the helpless man below and aimed it. The sniper closed his eyes as heard the pyro rack the weapon, and waited… and waited… and waited.  


Hearing footsteps walking in the opposite direction, he slowly he opened his eyes. The pyro had decided to spare him and had even left a small health bottle next to him. The pain in the Sniper’s chest and back was growing unbearable, but the pills would keep him alive long enough to hobble back to resupply.  


“Thank you,” he whispered, hoping the BLU had not heard him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I said it in the tags, but I would like to point out here as well that I wrote this months ago and have progressed vastly as an author. I will make sure to change the small errors that I have found and hopefully that will make it readable. If there are ever any errors, please feel free to point them out to me!  
> I hope you all enjoy the first chapter.


	2. A Life for a Life

A week had passed since that BLU had saved the Sniper’s life, and for the life of him he still couldn’t figure out why. He had never seen a pyro show emotion aside from murderous glee in all his experience, let alone mercy. The Australian fired of a shot, nailing a soldier in the throat mid rocket-jump. Damn… That should have gotten him in the eye. He needed to stop thinking about that BLU. He lowered his weapon and shuffled to a different window; it never was good to stay in the same place for too long in his life of work, and Well had many excellent vantage points.  


The Sniper brought the scope back up to his eye just in time to see a dueling pair of scouts be hit by a train, their bodies dragged off to wherever those locomotives were headed. He chuckled to himself, but quickly hardened as the subject of his thoughts came in to his cross hairs. Everyone feared pyros, and they had good reason to. They were cruel and merciless… Maybe this whole thing was a mind game, or maybe it was just a random happening. Pyros were aliens or monsters or something of the like, it didn’t matter if one spared his life once. Sniper aimed and pulled the trigger, leaving behind only a corpse and a scream that gave him a strange pain in his heart. 

 

The day moved on, and the sniper had not seen the pyro again. The scores for RED and BLU stood at 2:1 respectively, and no points had been scored for about twenty minutes. Why hadn’t he seen that pyro again? Maybe it decided to stay and protect the BLU base… maybe respawn had malfunctioned and it was dead for good. That would be an ironic turn of events, It saved him, and he killed it. A sudden announcement from a far too close speaker let him know that their intelligence had been taken and startled him from his thoughts. Shit, he didn’t have time to fantasize about dead enemies; he needed to focus on the battle at hand.  


He hefted his weapon and set sights on the streak of BLU and papers running from his base, this kid made headshots far too easy. He waited for the scout to run in to his line of sight, so close, almost there, he began to ease on to the trigger when an abrupt pain struck him in the back. He fell to the ground, and respawned moments later. Damn bloody spooks…  


The score was now 2:2, but if their engineer kept his wits then-  


“Oi… engie?” Sniper stood, teeth grinding, in the main respawn hall. A level three sentry beeped and buzzed away.  


The American tipped his hardhat to the taller RED, “’Mornin’ Sniper, how was yer little nap there?” He gestured to the respawn room with a freshly opened beer.  


He snarled, “Why are you set up here, and not in there?” He walked quickly to the side of the smaller man, made even shorter by the fact that he was lounging in that damned mechanical chair of his.  


“Well ya see, someone was distracted and let their Heavy get all the way in to our base an’ he destroyed my darlin’,” the stocky man took a swig of beer, “If Pahro hadn’t come and gotten ‘im and his medic from the be-hind, I’d be dead meat right now and our intel’d be gone,”  


Sniper grimaced, he knew exactly who engineer meant by “someone”, damn his wandering thoughts, “I’m asking why you’re not set up back where you belong,” The sentry snapped in his direction, rockets just barely missing him and destroying an intruding scout. Poor kid, judging by his speed he must be tired from the battle, that of he was losing his touch.  


The engineer shrugged and leaned back in his chair, “ ‘Ve only got five minutes left before the mission ends in a stalemate, figured I’d let Pahro take care of the intel room,”  


No… no this didn’t seem right. It sounded like a good idea, sure… but something was off. What was disturbing him about all this? This was obviously their Engineer, and it seemed like everything would end in a stalemate. What could be-  


“THE ENEMY HAS TAKEN OUR INTELIGENCE.”  


The two REDs looked each other before bolting for the intel room. First noticing the scorched pyro on the intel platform, then they saw the BLU streak running up the stairs and out of the intel room,  


“Way ‘ta go mumbles! They’re all yours!” The scout yelled as he got further and further away.  


Scout? He had just seen him die out in front of resupply, there was no way he could have respawned and gotten back so fast! …Unless it wasn’t really the Scout that was killed. Sniper watched the Texan run after the BLU as he walked over checked the platform for any more spies.  


No wonder that Scout was so slow; it wasn’t actually the scout, it was that damn Spy who backstabbed him! They knew RED would let their guard down after seeing the most detrimental enemy die… the scout must have slipped in over their heads through the back way while he was talking to engineer.  


The Aussie was stirred from his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He jumped from the platform and whirled around to see who was there, but in his mind he already knew. Who else could have burned their pyro to death?  


“THE ENEMY HAS DROPPED OUR INTELIGENCE.”  
He looked up to the BLU pyro who had so distracted him this match, “Guess your Scout got a little too cocky, huh?”  


He waited for some sort of mumbled retort, but none came. The pyro continued to look at him, fire axe in one hand and the other on its hip.  


“What’re you looking at me like that for? Aren’t you going to attack me?” He drew his kukri as he spoke, yet Pyro still said nothing. Instead, the BLU shook its head and turned to leave. What the hell? The sniper followed after the firebug, grabbing its arm and spinning it around to look at him, “At least say something!” His voice sounded far angrier than he intended, and the response of giggles didn’t help his temper.  


“WE HAVE TAKEN THE ENEMY INTELIGENCE”  


He shoved the BLU away at the intercom statement, “Just because you won’t fight me, doesn’t mean I’ll reciprocate!” He lunged at the Pyro with his knife, stumbling as the other dodged, “Bloody Wanka!”  


Sniper chased the BLU, trying to land a blow- trying to make that annoying giggling stop! Why was this monster laughing at him in the first place? Was his rage really that funny? Why was he this pissed off in the first place… it was just another enemy, it didn’t matter if the Pyro wouldn’t attack, it was just more to his advantage!  


He chased the BLU out of the base, swinging and cursing as he went. At least at this point the pyro had taken up the axe in a more offensive hold. The RED swung again, stumbling as they ran over the bridge, heel catching on the railing and sending him straight in to the water. Damnit…  


He could hear the Pyro laughing as he neared the surface of the water, “Yeah yeah, laugh all ya wan-“as he was hoisting himself out of the water, he noticed the extended glove covered hand.  
“wamf fum hmlp?” The BLU giggled down at him, but not in a malicious way.  


The pyro seemed… genuine somehow. Sniper took the hand, gaze of suspicion glaring from behind his damp glasses. Pyro helped him out of the water and to his feet, patting him on the back as he did so. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the monster was smiling behind that mask… Out of the corner of his eye he could see their scout running in to the RED base with the intel. If that was the last capture then that would mean…  


Sniper let out a loud groan, “Come on,” He grabbed the pyro’s arm pushed it in the direction of the BLU base. There would be at least a lesser chance that it would be killed if it stayed there, but he sure as hell wouldn’t let that thing be behind him with that back burner. Maybe this whole thing if he spared the BLU’s life once? A life for a life sort of thing… To be honest, he didn’t understand why he suddenly started making excuses in his head.  


“YOUR TEAM HAS SECURED THE ENEMY INTELIGENCE. YOU WIN.”  


The usual screams of death came from the other team, and as the BLU base was emptied, the REDS came filing out to their base in hopes of finding someone there. The red team waited for a train to pass -one or two of them mistakenly standing too close to the track and being sucked under the thing- and sniper let out another groan. He turned around, pushing the BLU in to the water behind them,  


“Stay low, the humiliation round should end before you run out of air,” With that, he left the BLU and caught up to his team to go storm their own base. He’d repaid whatever debt he owed Pyro now, maybe now it- or they… they would fight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so there are already 21 chapters written for this story so far, so I think what's going to happen is I'm going to post around five chapters a week until this is updated. Maybe I'll just post all the ones having to do with the different small arcs or something.


	3. A Steadily Increasing Heart Beat

Twelve AM came very differently for each team. The BLUs all rested in their barracks, Scout snoring away in one of the most uncomfortable looking sleep positions you would have ever seen and the Soldier sleeping quietly with his eyes wide open. He was the one who instated the “All in bed by 10:30, awake and doing drills by 5:30” rule, and he made sure everyone followed it- by force if he had to.  


You had to admit, though, being well rested aided them all in battle.  


Pyro slept soundly in their favorite star footsies, having wonderful dreams of someone they probably shouldn’t be thinking about- let alone liking enough to dream about. All things considered, dreaming of the handsome RED sniper-in-shining-armor coming to save the ever lovely Princess Pyro from a high tower with his excellent grappling-hook aim… was one of the more mild dreams they had been having of him lately.  


The REDs, on the other hand, were a different story. Demoman and the Heavy were still in the mess, drinking and talking the night away. Most of the team was either trying to sleep in their respective living quarters or watching some VHS movie in the common room. Sniper couldn’t stand how noisy the base was at night; he literally moved out to his camper on the second night of being on the team.  


Tonight was more restless than those of the week prior, though his thoughts were consumed by the same thing- or person. He really should stop thinking of the Pyro as an “it” instead of a “him”… or was it “her”? His mind raced with thoughts and various questions. They were enemies, so they were meant to kill each other, and that means it’s okay to kill each other. Nothing had changed from two weeks prior so he should still be able to shoot the Pyro without feeling guilty, and the only reason he did was because the BLU had spared him like that. If that was truly the case and it was a one-time thing though, why hadn’t they attacked him in the intel room? The Australian rolled over on his back to look up at the ceiling.  


Why did they giggle so much? It wasn’t even a manly chuckle… it was a giggle. It was almost a cute giggle... He shook his head, covering his eyes with his forearm. You’re not allowed to talk to the opposing team, let alone find one of their more deadly members “cute”. On top of that, pyro wasn’t someone he should find cute in the first place. They were a man, right? It’s not like he was particularly picky with lovers in the past, but he’d absolutely never found any other male “cute”.  


A thought suddenly struck him like the soft kiss at the end of a fist; what if the pyro really wasn’t a man? He sat up in bed and crossed his arms in contemplation… Nobody knew anything about the pyros, but it was safe to assume that the RED and BLU pyros would be similar, just like any other class on each team. He knew for a fact that their Pyro had a pink flower purse, but you can’t really judge someone by their accessories. If you did that, then you could say the BLU Spy was a woman for those three-inch platform heels he wears to match the Red spy in height.  


He flopped back down on the small fold out bed, allowing his arms to dangle off the sides. He slowly raised a hand to trace the scar on his cheek. Sniper could still remember the feeling of that gloved hand touching his face so gently, as if he were a wounded animal, and the smell of gasoline so close to his face. He closed his eyes as he re-lived the moment, his heart fluttering. His eyes shot back open and he groaned to himself, he remembered what this mixture of feelings in his head, heart, and stomach from back in his school days.  


The sharpshooter forced his eyes closed and tried to make himself fall asleep and forget this idiotic realization. He needed his sleep anyway, there was a long weekend ahead of him, he would have plenty of time to clear his mind of the Pyro. Maybe he would go to the market in town tomorrow and make a healthy meal for himself instead of having to eat Scout’s sugary cereal or soldier’s MREs…  


He was far too old to have a crush anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the kudos and views! Look forward to another chapter today and a couple more tomorrow.


	4. An Ironic Twist Which We all Saw Coming

Teufort was its usual self the next day, with bright blue skies and one or two wispy clouds. It was a nice 29 degrees outside, which made perfect shopping weather.  


With a day as lovely as this, how could Pyro not go in to town? The refrigerator needed restocking anyway, and everyone was happier and better at their job when they ate well. The market would be a perfect place to go. Outdoors in nice weather, and not while you had someone to kill! What could be better? Pyro set out after deciding on an agreeable street outfit and letting those who were still at the base know where they were going. 

 

It was around ten in the morning when the Sniper finally woke up. He stretched, quickly dressing in his clothes from the previous day before heading in to the base for a cure to the ache in his stomach. As usual, nobody was still around.  


He didn’t know nor much care where they all went on the weekends, he was happy as long as they were back on Monday. Sniper made his way to the mess hall refrigerator to stop the burn in his belly, only to remember his resolution to get food after being greeted by an empty fridge.  


“incredible,” he mused to himself sarcastically, resting his head on the fridge door.  


He slammed the door shut before returning to his camper to freshen up with a shower and clean clothes, before starting up his van and beginning the short drive to the market. He was tired, the bags under his eyes could tell anyone that much. What had he been thinking about so much late last night? Was it next week’s battle? The base change? They would be sent to snow fortress in a couple of months for the season change, but he didn’t think that’s what was keeping him up.  


He laughed to himself as he pulled to a stop light, Pyro was going to hate being in such cold weather for three months-Oh, right. The Pyro. The Aussie sighed, now wishing he had a working radio in his van so he wasn’t stuck with his thoughts when driving.  


He parked his van in a lot by the farmer’s market, before looking over the rows of stalls set up with prices and fresh looking fruits and vegetables. The RED lost himself in thought as he started walked down the many aisles of produce. He had to get his mind off the battlefield and anyone that might come with it, especially ones with cute giggles.  


Maybe he should finally find himself a girlfriend like his parents wanted, a nice girl with a cute smile, one who could take care of him and was sweet. Hell, at this point they’d be happy if he had a nice man with the same qualities! They didn’t even have to be pretty, just nice. The Australian let out another sigh, he just wanted someone to share part of his life with, he supposed. That was normal for a man of his age, right? There were plenty of single men and women at the market, maybe he would be able to find someone who could cook.  


He chuckled at his own stupid thoughts and fantasies, stopping to look at some produce on a fruit stand next to him. He shrugged with a huff at the half-bruised apples, continuing down the aisle. He looked down the line of merchants- there were fruit stands for apples and peaches, a stall selling assorted nuts by the pound, but the only thing that caught his eye… was her.  


At the very end of the aisle of stalls stood a girl wearing a floppy sun hat that covered her face and hair, a pair of what looked like white gloves, and a long sleeved dress that beautifully caught the light summer breeze. The black combat boots on her feet off-set the grey tights she wore on her legs. She looked slightly pear shaped, and utterly beautiful to him.  


She carried an over filled fabric bag, stuffed to the brim with what he assumed to be freshly bought produce, that could be a good excuse to talk to her. Now was as good a time as any to try and meet someone, right? There’s no shame on courting someone you meet at the market… Well who was he kidding, it was full of shame, but he was going to try it anyway. He straightened his glasses and waited for her to leave the stall she occupied before walking up to her.  


He cleared his throat before speaking, “Excuse me miss? That bag looks a might heavy, would you like- would you mind if I carried it?” It wasn’t hard to stay calm and have his words come out deep and smooth. He was a trained assassin, keeping the nervousness out of his voice was easy, “that is, if you don’t mind,”  


The lady paused for a moment before giggling, turning around and nodding while holding the bag out for him to take. Sniper grinned and took the bag, finally getting a look at her face. He’d imagined a girl with squishy cheeks and short hair, but his grin faded slowly once he realized that her face was actually a quite familiar gas mask.  


“You…” he groaned, resting his face in his free hand, “Why are you here?” He was fed up with the universe’s cruel sense of humor at the moment; did life really hate him that much? Why couldn’t he have just ONE nice thing?  


“Uh whz shupnf!” The pyro replied, pointing to the bag in Sniper’s hand, “Cuhm on,” The BLU motioned for the Aussie to follow, which he did with a sigh- making sure to sling the bag safely over his elbow.  


Fine. You know what? Fine. He gave up, if life was going to do this to him, he was going to play along, “Ahr yuh ftil shupnf too?”  


At lease he was able to understand him… her? The dress seriously wasn’t helping his question about the pyro’s gender, “Yeah, base’s rations are running low-” he swore the pyro’s eyes light up once he spoke.  


The shorter then proceeded to drag Sniper all over the market to seemingly random stalls, telling him what and how much to buy. Soon enough Sniper found himself carrying two over stuffed bags of food and, surprisingly, himself having a nice time.  


He continued making excuses in his head, but now for why it was okay to be at the market with this weird frienemy of his and not to suppress any childish feelings like before. They were off duty, nobody would care. They were adults who can choose to spend time with who they want, right? 

 

About an hour passed of the two of walking, talking, and mingling with other customers here and there before Sniper finally decided to speak on a subject other than shopping, “Mind if I ask something?” He started as the two made their way through the now full lot to his van.  


The BLU ticked their head to the side with an “mmHm?” letting the sniper know he could go ahead, “earlier when I saw you and called you miss…didn’t that bother you?” Now seemed like a fine time to find out a little more about the pyro- gender pronouns seemed like as good a place to start as any.  


The shorter simply shook their head, “Yhu shldhn’t ashuhm what fhmehne if bhy thehr chlothef… buh, miff if fihn,” Sniper could swear he saw a smile through that mask, so he decided he could go further  
“So… you’re a sheila?” The pyro shrugged their shoulders and made an uncertain noise,  


“Mahby, mahby nht, bht you chn chll mh hne,” The pyro looked down as they walked, fiddling with their gloves, “ ‘She’ hr ‘hur’ if fihn” He nodded before turning his attention to his van.  
Sniper balanced the bags on his knee as he unlocked the driver door, quickly placing them inside before hopping in himself. He popped the passenger door open and motioned for Pyro to get in, “I’ll give you a ride back to the bases’ split off, it would be rude to leave a lady to walk,”  


The BLU giggled and hopped in with a ‘Fhnk You,” Pyro then took off their hat and sat it between the front seats.

The drive was quieter than Sniper would have liked, but he didn’t want to make the Pyro anymore uncomfortable than they-she probably was, being in a RED’s car and all… although she didn’t seem very worried. He was still unsure about the BLU’s gender but being told that he could call them a she was good enough for the moment, not to mention it put him a bit more at ease. 

 

The vehicle pulled to a stop once they neared the base split off. Sniper would have liked to leave the BLU closer to their base, but neither of them would want to face the consequences of being seen with each other. Pyro thanked the RED again for the ride before quickly gathering their bag and exiting the van with a quick wave. The sniper thought to himself as he watched the pyro walk the street toward their base, regretting not starting a conversation with their new… What was Pyro to him? Not exactly friends, but he didn’t feel hate to the BLU either. She seemed nice; he might even regret killing her in the next week’s missions. Sniper parked his van in front of the base, resting his head on the steering wheel. What was he really doing? He’d seen how much trouble Jane and Tavish’s relationship got them in, so why would he risk jus job let alone his life for the mumbling BLU? He sighed, getting up from his seat and heading to the back of his camper to relax- find something to take his mind off his poor choices for a while. The Aussie stopped in his tracks when he noticed the Pyro’s floppy hat still sitting on the floor. Oh, she must have just forgotten it… He have another sigh before picking it up and continuing in to his camper; he’d worry about that little piece of evidence later.  


Sniper spent the rest of the weekend relaxing away from the rest of his noisy team, not feeling very inclined to put all the produce he’d purchased in the base’s refrigerator. If the team starved, it was their own fault for not feeding themselves.

 

The rest of the weekend was uneventful to say the most. Food was made, conversations were held, and all BLUs complained about how short the weekend break was. Pyro did not really see the problem in the impending week; they actually wished it would come faster. While payload missions were one of their personal favorites, (there really was nothing quite like airblasting a group of enemies away from your cart) the pyro really couldn’t help but look forward to seeing Sniper again.  


Finally, they had the chance to learn more about someone! Pyro did not exactly know why they felt this magnetism toward the RED, they just knew that the way he looked injured on the ground and the way he thanked them for not killing him… It put an odd feeling in the BLU’s tummy. It wasn’t a bad feeling mind you- the fire bringer liked it in fact.


	5. A Normal Day at the Office

The anticipation as you wait behind the gates is one of the most exciting and terrifying feelings you can ever experience- at least that was Pyro’s opinion. Their first payload mission was held on the upward map, and as usual, REDs were flooding the front gates. Pyro could see the RED engineer setting up a sentry around the corner of the first check point; they would have to kill the engineer quickly once Spy sapped it so that he wouldn’t knock it off.

The ten second mark was announced, signaling the REDS to retreat to a better vantage point to kill the BLUs. Pyro glanced around for any sign of cloaked spies outside, but honestly they could never tell. Their best bet would just be to run out the doors blazing. Silence fell over the BLU team as the final seconds ticked by. It looked like the medic had already built up an uber- which he would probably use on the heavy.

Sometimes Pyro wished Medic would charge the other members of the team, but they understood it was easiest to follow the heavy and charge him. After all, he was the biggest teammate and could easily act as a healable meat shield for the tiny German. The opposing scout taunted them with his usual things of calling heavy fat and insulting their BLU counterpart. Thank goodness their airblasts worked through the gates; if they couldn’t send the loud-mouthed Bostonian away they would go insane from his jabbering. Pyro was pulled from their inner ramblings as they heard the final countdown begin.

**5…4…3…2…1!**

A single red dot appeared through the gates as the doors flew open. Then, with a bang and a crimson spray, the Medic fell to the ground. Looks like their new friend was somewhere out there, they’d have to find him later and “repay” him for the wasted uber. Pyro followed scout to the cart, quickly checking for spies before charging ahead to clear the way for the rest of their team.

 

 

Sniper reached his normal spot to survey the BLU team in record time and easily set up his rifle (muscle memory was a wonderful thing after all). He hoisted the weapon to his shoulder and quickly looked over the opposition, immediately seeing her in his sights. She seemed to be distracted in her thoughts- or at least he assumed do. It was hard to tell through that mask but he knew if the pyro were fully listening to her surroundings, she would have already blown the scout away from their gates.

He aimed, laser pointer square in the middle of her forehead. Now he would just have to wait till the gates opened and he could _easily_ get her attention. Sniper was aimed carefully and about to pull the trigger when he noticed the man next to the pyro. The medic stood behind their heavy, blue crosses emanating off of him. If that was the case, then he already had a full uber charge, and would no doubt activate it first step out the door. Damn, Pyro would get a free pass this time; he needed to think of his team’s victory more than some dumb attempt to make the pyro notice him.

He re-aimed and, after the gates opened, waited for the best shot and pulled the trigger. The heavy cursed his “doctor” for being so clumsy as he carried on to the cart, a barrage of bullets greeting him. The aussie quickly lost track of Pyro in the thick of battle, though in hindsight shooting the girl you like in the head was probably a bad idea; it actually sounded like something a kindergartener or scout would try.

 

Payload missions generally went faster than any others, which the sniper liked, but they required him to move around more than usual, which he hated. There were only so many back-ways he could go through to avoid enemies as he went from vantage point to vantage point, and while he could easily sneak up on any animal, sneaking past the other team was a completely different story. He lready just nearly missed the BLU scout - who in all honesty would not be much of a threat, but if sniper HAD killed him he would have respawned griping about the RED, which would send other more threatening enemies after him. Sniper still refused to run out in the open though, being a sitting duck just didn’t sit right with him.

From the sound of things, it seemed as if the BLU team would be winning this round. Last time he checked the cart was one check point away from the final terminus, and unless his team could keep them away from the drop for ten minutes, the REDS would surely lose. The aussie peeked down the hall of the interior building. Not a BLU in sight, now was his time to move.

He trotted cautiously down the hallway to the innermost workings of the building, soon he would be in the room that held the final terminus and would easily be able to snipe from one of the balconies. His rifle slung over his back and kukri in hand, he stalked toward the door leading in to the main room. It didn’t look like anyone was there, save for Engineer and his sentry. Sniper sheathed his knife and began setting up his rifle.

The announcement that the cart was reaching endgame boomed loud over the intercoms. Damnit, he’d have to move faster if he wanted to-

“Ahem,” The sniper was jerked from his concentration as he heard that oh-so familiar voice taunt him from behind, “You know, bushman, you should really be more careful about watching your back,” The annoying French accent cooed from his back as a sharp pin penetrated his spine. The last thing he heard was that damn Spy’s obnoxious snorting laughter.

The BLUs won as the sniper waited in limbo for respawn to bring him back, it was a sour bit of luck –if you could call it luck- that he even came back in this match at all. One second left before the humiliation round came in to effect, and he spawned back in. Perfect. It seems as if the winning team had already cleared out the spawn and left before he reappeared, so that might be counted as lucky. The Australian sighed, might as well stay in here he supposed, there was a slim enough chance that anyone would come back to the clear spawn that he might even survive! …or at least that’s what he had hoped.

The Pyro trotted in to the room brandishing their shot gun as if right on some celestial force’s cue. Sniper was beginning to hate how funny the universe thought it was to put him in these situations.

 

 

It had been a difficult day’s work, but they’d finally done it. The pyro was so excited that their team had gotten a win after such a long dry streak, victory did indeed taste sweet. The only down side to the battle was that they had not gotten to see Sniper at all. As a matter of fact, they hadn’t seen any sign of him since killing that medic when the mission first started! It could possibly have been because they were leading the front and smoking out the spies, but the firebug preferred to imagine the sniper sparing them on purpose. It felt… nicer that way.

Pyro trotted around the bases looking for more REDs to roast when, as luck would have it, they just so happened to find him in his spawn! The BLU could have sworn they cleaned this place out already, but they were not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. The pyro looked to see if anyone else was around and, after they were sure the two of them were alone, proceeded to walk up to the Australian with a friendly wave and a muffled “Hey!”

The sniper sighed as he leaned against the resupply cabinets, “Hey yourself,”

The shorter giggled and joined him by the metal locker, “Huw’d yhu ght herh?” Sniper shrugged,

“The respawn’s timer must be off or something, it brought me back right before you got here,” He gave a shrug and looked over the BLU. How on earth did this puffy thing fit in to that dress last weekend? Did she stuff the suit? She did look pretty flat in that dress though… maybe she was so used to binding for work that it was just a habit by now.

Sniper reminded himself of what happened that weekend, suddenly remembering their little problem,

“By the way…” He started, taking off his hat to wipe his brow from the humid room, “You left your hat in my van,”

Pyro gasped, “Oh ghfh yhu’rh riht!” They put their gloved hand over their breathing mask, “Duh you fthll havh it?”

“Of course I do, wouldn’t throw away a lady’s belongings,” He scoffed, “But, I do need to get it back to you…” He trailed off in thought.

The pyro looked at his face; it was easy to tell he was somewhere else. The wondered what he was thinking about, though it was probably something along the lines of getting their hat back to them without being seen. There was no way they could do that at work… but on the weekend was certainly an option!

An idea struck the BLU, “Oh! Huw abhut thif weekhnd?” The sniper snapped out of his thoughts,

“What about it?” He looked down at her gas mask through yellow tinted lenses. Pyro seemed oddly excited,

“Therf a phrk abhut a mhle frhm thwn, we cohld gho therh!,” The pyro bounced up and down slightly at their brilliant idea; they could get their hat back, which they had “accidently” left behind, and they would have a perfect chance to learn more about Sniper! It would be like a date- except only for business and mutual knowledge of course.

“Hm… Alright, sounds like a plan. S’ better than the thing gathering dust on my night stand for the rest of its life,” Sniper smiled to the BLU, “Saturday sound good?,” he may have been thick when it came to women, but he was no moron. If she had wanted an excuse to talk, she could have found an easier excuse. Though, he couldn’t deny the fact that he was happy at the chance to see her again. The pyro bounced up and down nodding about the date.

The administrator announced the end of the match moments later and ordered everyone back to their respective bases. The two nodded, Pyro making sure to leave a little bit after the Sniper as not to draw suspicion from any prying eyes. They were happy, and their heart and stomach were doing that fluttery thing again. Finally, they would learn more about the weird and mysterious man they had grown so fond of since that day.


	6. An Awkward Silence can Speak Wonders

The rest of the week passed normally. RED won some, BLU won some; all in all it was a regular week. The only difference from any other was the attitude of two particular mercenaries. Both Sniper and Pyro were excited for the weekend, and the spring in their respective steps showed it plain as day.

Pyro having seemingly random mood swings was something that the BLUs had gotten used to by now, it was just part of who they. The REDs, on the other hand, were a little more than confused by the sniper’s attitude. Sniper was never happy enough to show it on the outside, but this week seemed to be different. He made a few more kills than usual- but that wasn’t really what concerned the team. No, it was his random smiles when nothing had been said and the way he whistled when he thought he was alone. Any emotion other than tired annoyance from the Australian was odd, and to say his uncharacteristic -while small- bits of bright emotion made the RED team uncomfortable would be an understatement.

In all honesty he was excited to see her again. Maybe it was the feeling of doing something you’re not supposed to do, or maybe it was just because she was the first girl he had talked to in quite a while. All Sniper knew was that when he thought of them talking that day and her surprisingly gentle fingers on his cheek, his heart would sing. It was the first time in years he had felt this way, though being in the middle of a war was a good excuse to put off relationships. Trying to keep his eagerness under wraps was proving to be a little more trouble than he first anticipated.

He did not want to draw any more unneeded attention to himself than he already had and so he decided, the following Wednesday, that it would be best to stay away from his team and their growing suspicions. For the last two days of the week he kept to himself and his camper, only coming out when it was time for a match or for meals.

 

 

Finally, Saturday arrived after a week of hard and close battles. The aussie woke early that morning to make sure he was ready for their “not-really-a-date” date. He dressed in a decent pair of slacks and one of his less worn-and-torn work shirts, silently making a note to himself to buy better clothes for off duty hours. Sniper never really had a need to dress in anything other than he had before, spending most of his time on his own like he did, but… Well if he wanted a date with anyone –Pyro aside- he would need to put at least a little effort in to his look. The clock on his nightstand showed somewhere around 11: 30, that seemed like a good time to head to the park.

The Australian realized that the two of them never really set a time for their meeting as he climbed to the front of his camper. He began the drive out of town and made a mental note to not make any more dates on the battle field, it was not just dangerous- but also just plain foolish. He let out a long breath. Noon would probably be fine, right? They would have all day to talk if they wanted, so it did not really matter when he got there he supposed… But it would still feel wrong leaving her waiting by herself if she got there earlier.

 

 

Pyro took only a little longer than usual to get ready that morning. After deciding on a black and white long-sleeve and a black bubble skirt (with their grey leggings and gloves of course) they set out to the park. It occurred to the firebug that walking all the way out of town would be exhausting to say the least, and they honestly did not want to be sweaty and tired when they met up with Sniper. How would they find out more about the opposing Australian if they passed out from exertion mid conversation?   But it wasn’t as if the pyro had a driver’s license either, so they wouldn’t be able to drive themself! Besides, the only person on base with a car was Engineer, and he would never let anyone touch his beloved Lola.

The BLU thought for a moment before hitting their forehead with the palm of their hand. Engineer, of course! Engie liked pyro and he usually drove in to town on the weekends to scan the flea markets for interesting machinery, they could definitely get a ride from him! Honestly, why hadn’t they thought of this sooner?   The pyro quickly made their way to the engineer’s room in time to find him lacing up his boots.

The Texan glanced up to the fellow BLU with a smile, “Mornin’ Pahro, now what’re you all gussied up for?”

“Mm jhft ghing hnto thwn, chld you ghve mh a rhde?” Pyro stepped in to the stocky man’s room, leaning against the door frame as they talked.

“Town huh? I don’t see why not,” The engineer adjusted his goggles to his bare forehead and motioned for Pyro to follow him.

The two followed the halls out of their base and to an old beaten up pick-up. Pyro didn’t understand why Dell was so worried about anyone touching the rust covered vehicle; it wasn’t really like it could get much worse! In the end, though, Pyro understood that it was his truck and would respect any outrageous rules Engineer had in place for Lola… including the “no more lighters in my damn truck” one…

The two BLUs didn’t talk much during the ride, but the pyro always liked the idea that you don’t have to fill every second you spend with someone with noise. If only Scout could get that through his skull.

Engineer broke the silence, “What’re you doin’ in town today?”

“O-oh!” Pyro jumped from their mental ramblings, “Nofinh rhlly…” How should they answer? They couldn’t really just come out and say they were meeting an enemy because they left something behind from the last time they talked to that same enemy!

The Texan raised an eyebrow, glancing at the masked individual out of the corner of his eye, “Nothin, huh? Sure got dressed up for ‘Nothin’”

“Whll, jhst fum shoppinf! Clohthf anf ftuff,” They fidgeted with their fingers. Gosh, they never realized how bad it felt to lie…

The driver nodded and stayed silent for the rest of the drive, seeming to be deep in his own thoughts. They arrived in town soon enough, Dell parking the Pick-up in a lot near the freshly set up flea markets. He got out and locked Lola up tight as soon as pyro got out,

“Will ya be needing me t’ take ya back to the base?” The man shoved his keys into the pocket of his pants as he spoke.

Pyro shook their head as they began walking away, “Noh, I chn ght bahk oh mhy ohn, fhnks tho!”

The engineer grinned and stared at the pyro, “Alrighty! See ya later then,” He turned to the flea market, before chuckling. Shopping, huh? Sure.

 

Pyro finally arrived at the park around noon-thirty. Why were they so slow? Maybe scout could train them to move faster… They surveyed the area for the sniper but there was no sign- Oh, wait! The BLU spotted a familiar camper van which was parked carefully in front of the park’s main entrance. After looking around, however, the owner of said van was nowhere in sight. He must be somewhere inside… Oh well, it wasn’t a big park- only a few walking paths, a playground, and a lake- it wouldn’t be too hard to find the tall Australian! The BLU giggled to themself as they walked through the rod-iron gates, it would be like a one sided game of hide and seek.

 

 

Sniper arrived at the park around 12: 15 and decided to wait in his van for Pyro. She would probably arrive soon… hopefully. The two of them would have to set up their next date at the end of this one as to avoid any more confusion- though this was not a date. It was a meeting between friends, or at least that’s what the aussie had convinced himself. The sniper waited a bit longer for her to show up, but his mind began to wander. He wondered what she looked like under that mask… was she fair skinned, or did she have freckles? What colour was her hair? He bet she had an adorable toothy grin…

The sniper shook himself from his thoughts and exited his van, grabbing the hat from his passenger seat as he did so. Being alone with his mind continued to prove to be a problem, especially when on the topic of the BLU. He had not been paying much attention to his surroundings anyway, Pyro could have waltzed right past the van and he would never have been the wiser. Some fresh air would probably do him wonders. Sniper looked around once more for the pyro before walking through the park’s main entrance.

It was a decently sized park, not too big or small, not too many people; it was actually a very nice place in the Australian’s opinion. He watched children playing on the jungle-gym as he walked down one of the paved pathways, smiling at their playful laughs. One day he hoped to have children, and not just to stop the nagging for grandchildren and a wife from his parents; Sniper loved the idea of a family ever since he was young. A beautiful wife he could protect and a couple of daughters whom he would always cherish. He chuckled to himself at the thought of telling his folks how much he hated the idea of having a son, but growing up and seeing how cruel all the other boys his age were severely warped any thoughts of ever wanting one of his own. The sharp shooter pulled himself from his thoughts as he reached the end of his chosen path.

What waited in front of him was a tree, only about a foot taller than himself, and a nicely crafted wooden bench sitting in its shade. Sniper couldn’t help but smile at the quaint scene in front of him, it seemed almost too perfect- the bench even faced out over the small man-made lake. This seemed like the perfect place for the two to chat.

The sniper set the sun hat down on the wooden bench, resting against its back as he did so. Where was she? It had to be around 12: 30 by now… He let out a sigh and pushed himself away from the furniture, might as well check near the entrance. The aussie started back down that path, leaving the sun hat behind as a claim to the bench. It wasn’t long before he spotted the pyro and quickened his pace.

 

 

This park really was nice in Pyro’s opinion. Everyone here seemed so happy and full of life, especially the children! The BLU stood in front of the playground, watching the happy children play and frolic. Some played on the jungle gym, a couple swung from the monkey bars, three of them pushed each other down the slide… and there was one playing on the swings with her parents. Pyro watched the little girl ask her father to push her higher as her mother watched on, laughing the whole time… Yes, this park was delightful… but some things would always bring back sour memories.

A tap on the shoulder pulled the pyro away from any more painful thoughts, looking up to see a gentle smile from the RED Sniper,

”You alright Sheila? I’ve been waiting for you,”


	7. A Simple Chat

The sniper led Pyro to the nice little spot he found earlier. He held tightly to the BLU’s gloved hand as they walked and, the BLU following absentmindedly behind him. Why did they have to think of their family now of all times? Pyro looked down at the hand holding their own, it was warm and they could feel his thick callouses through the gloves. They wondered if the RED sniper lived in the Australian wilds like the BLU alternative, they could not really see how holding rifle in the same place could make such rough hands. At least it was helping take their mind off of their memories.

Sniper snatched the hat from the bench and handed it to the pyro as the two of them sat down,

“Fhnk you,” They placed the hat atop their head. It smelled different now, muskier even.

Pyro knew that Sniper was keeping it in his van… but they never thought it would absorb so much of his scent in just a week.   Still though, the BLU would not complain about it. It was actually nice, being surrounded by the smell of the man sitting next to them was… almost comforting. They turned their head slightly to get a better look at the Sniper.

The Australian was leaned back and looking out on the lake, one arm resting over the side of the bench and the other stretched out over the back edge. He didn’t seem to be paying very much attention to his surroundings or Pyro. They sighed and joined Sniper in looking at the body of water. They wanted to talk about something- anything really; as long as it distracted from their past it would be fine. This was exactly the reason they didn’t like leaving the base often; seeing all the families in town always reminded them of when they were younger. They reminded Pyro of that house fire, of the day they lost their family… It reminded them of what a fool they had been in their youth and how it had cost them everything.

The pyro shook their head in an attempt to push the negative thoughts away. This was time they should spend learning about the sniper, not moping about their past!

 

The RED glanced over to the fidgeting BLU through his glasses. What was wrong with her? Was it because he wasn’t talking to her or not paying her enough attention? Shit.

The Sniper finally broke the silence, “Sheila?”

The pyro snapped to look at the aussie, “Yef?”

He scratched the back of his neck before speaking, as if trying to assemble his words. Great, he’d gotten her attention, but he didn’t know what to talk about, “Please… answer me honestly here,” He turned to face the pyro more squarely, “Why didn’t you kill me that day? It isn’t like we had ever spoken before, and I have to admit that if I were in your situation… I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill you,” It seemed like a good time to ask, but he could swear he saw a wince behind those black lenses at his last statement. He could probably have worded that better…

Pyro turned their head away from the sniper, looking to the water fowl on the lake. Soon, they spoke with a small breath, “I dhnnh… It’f jhft,” They sighed, words just weren’t forming correctly in their brain! To be honest they themself didn’t really understand why they spared Sniper. Yes, they wanted to learn more about their enemies, but why sniper?

“Yuhr dhffhrent uh guhff, yhu dhn’t feem th khll fhr fhn lihk evhryone elfh” the shorter fiddled with their fingers as they spoke, “it waf prhbably a bhd choife fo be honeft… buh I gueff I juft whnted th knoh mhre abhut yhu,” Which was true, they really did want to know more about the Sniper.

The red looked down blankly at the other for a moment before a nervous smile broke across his lips, “I’d always seen pyros as some sort of… foreign creature, even the one on our team,” He admitted, joined Pyro in looking out over the water, “The two of you always act so strangely, I never really thought of you as human. I just assumed you were monsters who just loved to set things on fire… but” sniper trailed off, brow furrowed in thought of what to say.

Pyro looked back up to the RED. Monsters, huh? That was about right, and almost everyone thought like that of them anyway.   They should be used to it being said; the only person who even really spoke to Pyro on the team was the engineer and sometimes Spy, and even Scout’s absent ramblings were deterred. Still though, it felt a little worse than usual from the aussie’s mouth.

Sniper turned back to the pyro and sighed, smile fading in to a frown at his own ineptitude for words, “I don’t think you’re a monster- not anymore,” shit, “You’re nice! I mean getting to know you better has been nice-”

The RED was interrupted by a gloved hand being place on his face, “Jhft… ftop thlking,” They removed their hand, sighing and shaking their head, “Fhnk yuh, I ght it,”

“Sorry Sheila,” The sniper hung his head in defeat, rubbing the back of his neck.

A giggle came from the BLU as they patted Sniper’s shoulder, “It’f fihn,”

The two sat in silence for a while longer. Awkward conversations were just the start of more friendly ones, right?

This time, it was the pyro who interrupted the silence, “Ohr Fniphr fayf he fpent yhrf livhng hn hif ohn in the whld… haf yhu evhr dohn fomethng likh tht?” They looked at the RED’s rough hands, remembering how they felt through the gloves.

Sniper’s eyes lit up at the question, and the answer to which took what felt like hours. He talked about what animals to look for and which to avoid, and about how nice it feels to be isolated for so long and how independent you become.

The two sat in silence, just watching the world go by. The BLU looked up to the changing colors of the sky; deep blue with red on the horizon. It was getting late, but talking to Sniper for so long was worth it.

The pyro nudged Sniper’s arm, “Cohld yuh ghve meh uh rhde bahk?”

 

The drive back to the split off was a short one. The two talked a little and said their “goodbye”s, along with “good luck”s for the next week’s missions, along with making plans to meet again next Saturday around the same time. Pyro made sure to take their hat as they exited the van with a wave

Walking to the base from the fork was a short journey; only about a mile uphill to the front door. The pyro fixed the rim of their hat as the low breeze caught it and flapped it in their face. They huffed in annoyance, removing the accessory from their head. It was a wonderful garment and it complimented their outfits perfectly, but the thing was proving to be more trouble than it was worth.

The pyro noticed Lola lovingly parked askew in front of the large blue building as they approached the base. Why would Engineer be back so early? He usually stayed at the flea market as long as he could get away with- never just to the late afternoon. There was no sign of the taxan as they entered the base though… Pyro shrugged, he was probably in his room working with his new parts; it wasn’t really anything the firebug needed to worry themselves with. They continued through the base on the way to their room, only to be interrupted by that familiar southern accent,

“Hey Pahro! How was the shoppin’?” The engineer leaned against the hallway wall in front of the Pyro.

“Oh! Uh..” the shorter continued down the hall, being met halfway by the stocky man,

“Didn’t find anything today?” Engineer gestured to Pyro’s attire,” Or wait, is that a new hat?”

The pyro nodded hesitantly, “Y-yeh, If it nife?” They held up the accessory for the other,

The Texan nodded, smug grin in place on his face, “Absolutely! Though… it looks a lot like one I’ve seen ya wearin’ before.   Guess ya like what ya like, huh?” He patted his fellow BLU’s shoulder before continuing down the hall, leaving the pyro standing alone.

He looked back as Pyro hurried to their room, grin quickly fading. Dell was no idiot, and Pyro was a horrible liar. The firebug was a grown human –probably- and everyone had secrets… But with the way they were acting that morning… He knew Pyro was hiding something, and he was going to find out what it was sooner or later.


	8. A Long, Long Time Ago

Visions of fire were a common thing for the pyro to see in their dreams. Usually they would dream of war- there would be dead medics all around, Spy could be found nowhere, and their surroundings would be coated in a blaze they actually hurt. This night, however, was different. This night, a reoccurring dream showed its face for the first time in years.

The pyro found themself in their childhood home, the same familiar smell of books and cooking filled the air. Their mother walked in to the living room and ruffled the young BLU’s fiery orange locks. They tried to speak to her but, like in most dreams, they couldn’t. Pyro sat and watched as the reoccurring dream unfolded.

A lovely woman with curly red locks walked about the kitchen, a short man sat reading a newspaper in the living room. The couple talked of their child and how happy they were that the doctor’s pills were helping him. The pyro held on to their small legs, unable to do or say a thing as the scene began to change.

The curtains soon burst in to flames, quickly igniting the surrounding carpet and celling. The young pyro tried to move- tried to reach out for their family members… but it never worked. No matter how many times they had this dream, they could never save them. It always ended in the gurgled screams of their beloved parents as their lungs blistered from the hot smoke.

 

Pyro’s eyes shot wide open, gasping and lunging in to a sitting position. Coming out of that dream was never easy… The firebug sighed and ran a hand through their now longer red hair. Hm, they’d have to cut it soon at the rate it was growing. The BLU glanced around their room- ust to make sure they were actually awake and in the barracks… They laid back down with another sigh, hugging their pillow tightly to their chest.

It was an accident. They didn’t mean for it to happen- they were just young and didn’t know any better. How were they supposed to know such a small fire in the waste bin would burn the house down? They wanted to forget about that day and how they caused their parents’ deaths… The psychiatrists said they needed to forgive themself to let go, but how could they do that with their own face being a daily reminder of what happened?

The pyro traced their fingers over their left eye to feel the uneven tissue. No, they couldn’t let go of what happened, and trying to forget never worked either. It really felt as if they were only good for burning and killing, and that those things were the only path they could choose in life. That was the life Miss Pauling offered them when she broke them out of the asylum after all.

The BLU shut their eyes tightly. No matter how nicely they dressed in their free time or how much they covered up their scars, they were always going to be exactly what everyone saw them as: A monster… Even if it was only in their mind. Pyro let out an unsteady breath as they tried to push these thoughts from their mind. They needed to think more positively.

The BLU Team was winning more regularly, and that was good… The teams would be moved to the snow fortress in a few months so they would finally be able to wear their suit for longer… And they were becoming closer to Sniper... Yes, he was a positive thing to think about. His voice was deep, his smile was gentle, and he called them by their favorite pronouns. The pyro smiled in to their pillow as they thought of the Australian. He really was something else… The way he talked about living in the Australian wilds and the way he held their hand so gently earlier that day made the pyro feel… funny. It was a good and amazing funny, but funny nonetheless.

The butterflies returned to pyro’s stomach as they thought about him more and more throughout the night. He was definitely something positive in their life, and being around him comforted them. Pyro didn’t quite understand what they felt for the RED… But it was definitely something good.

He was something that made the bad memories go away.


	9. A not-so Secret Meeting

Pyro ran through the gray buildings of Gorge. The middle point had just been captured by the BLU team, and they desperately needed to hurry back to the front lines. Why couldn’t respawn get them any closer to their team?

The firebug rushed into one of the buildings in hopes of a shortcut to the front. What they found, however, could be arguably better.  The RED Sniper stood at a window, shooting down in to the battle below. It had been nearly a month since Sniper and Pyro first met at the park, and the two had been meeting there every week since, but they tried their best to stay away from eachother while at work. Though… This once couldn’t hurt, right?

The BLU cleared their throat to alert the sniper to their presence, causing a small flinch from habit. He looked away from his scope for a moment before returning his attention to his job. It was showing to be a slow day for the Australian, and a small distraction was not unwelcome,

“G’day Sheila,” His voice was low and rough, “What’re you doing all the way up here?” He snarled as he missed an enemy scout running by.

Pyro leaned against the wall by the RED, “Jhft ftopphng by,” They shrugged.

They watched him as he worked; every muscle that tightened when he fired his weapon and ever pointy toothed grin he made with a kill was incredible. There was so much to watch in the Australian, Pyro just couldn’t help but release a smitten sigh.

The sniper glanced at them from the corner of his glasses,” I was thinking about this weekend,” He turned his attention back to the control point, “I’m going to bring some lunch for us- You know since we’ve been spending so long at the park,”

“Oh! Lhke a phcnhc?”The BLU jumped from their spot on the wall,

The RED chuckled “Something like that, sound good?”

The pyro nearly jumped with excitement, nodding feverishly in response. Sniper smiled before turning his attention to his work. Well, they were easily excited to say the least. Still, though… Sniper was always happy to make them happy.

Pyro was giddy, many thoughts coming to mind all at once. This was a lunch date, right? Neither of the mercenaries ever called their meetings dates aloud, really- they were just meetings to get to know each other better! Though, when you get down to it, that’s all a date really is. The BLU could tell that they were growing closer every time they met, and they actually liked it. Usually the pyro tried to push others away when they began to get too close… but Sniper was different.

The appearance of a blue dot on the sniper’s head jerked the firebug from their thoughts. Oh no, Sniper would die with one shot- but even worse… if their sniper had been watching… The pyro panicked, what should they do? Could their Sniper see them from the window? What if he had? Thoughts raced through their head at a mile a minute, reflexes kicking in and air blasting the RED away from the window right before a bullet could pierce his forehead.

The BLU sniper must been using a machina judging by the tracer streak left in the air. Pyro stepped out in front of the window, fire blazing from their degreaser,

“What the bloody hell?!” The BLU sniper somehow made himself heard over the noise of the battle going on below. The pyro simply shrugged in response as they hurried to the sniper,

“fhrry…” They hefted their weapon and released a few puffs of fire,

The RED shook his head as he stood from his aided stumble, “No worries, Sheila…” He let out a long sigh, “Guess we have to fight now though, don’t want to raise unneeded suspicions,”

Pyro nodded as the Australian hefted his Kukri, “To the death, I suppose,” the aussie grinned to the other, the pyro exchanging their degreaser for their fire axe. Just as quickly as the two had gotten to talking earlier, they set to fighting eachother. They slashed and jabbed at eachother, fully intending on killing eachother. It was one of the many things they had been talking about during their meetings; they both understood and accepted the fact that they would have to keep their violent habits toward one another, and that any killings were simply professional.

Sniper lunged for the pyro’s legs only to stumble as they jumped out of the way. The BLU brought their axe down where his ankle had been moments before and had to pry it from the ground just as quickly as they had swung it down to avoid a strike from the sniper’s knife.   Pyro struck the taller man in the gut with the back of their axe, sending him straight in to a nearby wall. The BLU giggled to themself, relishing in their victory as they walked toward the man now sliding down the wall.

He reminded them of the first day they had seen the Australian, though this time he clutched his stomach in pain instead of being sprawled out like a fur rug. They giggled once more as they approached the other, but they were yanked brutally from their thoughts within a second. Something caught their foot or seemed to push them, though there was nothing they could see around. Shit. They maneuvered as to not land on their own axe and fall to a clumsy and painful death, causing the wind to be forced from their chest as they hit the hard ground. The pyro opened their eyes to see Sniper kneeling by their side, kukri in hand. They closed their eyes with a groan and, within seconds, they were in limbo to respawn.

Pyro decided not to return to their Australian friend as they left the resupply gates, and instead headed straight for battle.

 

Of course he had seen. It was his whole lot in life to sneak about and check on his team, so why would he not notice a pyro heading in the direction of his Sniper? He was even about to backstab the BLU Monstre… when they started speaking. The Sniper was far too focused to notice him as long as he stayed quiet, and their little conversation proved to be oh-so educational. While the RED Spy was unsure if the two were lovers or simple companions, it was always useful to know such interesting facts as the pyro’s gender. Who knew a woman could be hiding under such a horrifying disguise.

Spy moved from behind the sniper as soon as he noticed the BLU counterpart below, though it was rather interesting that the pyro moved the RED out of the way instead of letting him die. Honestly, that would have been much easier.

Tripping the Pyro was child’s play, and while watching the two fight was entertaining… Well he simply couldn’t let his teammate be killed so easily. Besides, seeing if the bushman would kill his beloved pyro was an excellent test and, as long as he continued to do so, he would keep his mouth shut about their little meeting. The minute they stopped killing eachother though…

The Frenchman chuckled to himself as he moved among the buildings towards the final RED checkpoint. It had been a good day; even if his team would surely lose, he had something to look forward to that evening.

After all, photographs don’t just develop themselves.


	10. A First Kiss

It arrived in the mail a week ago from the current Saturday, accompanied by a letter from his mother telling him to “take that nice girl you told me about out for a proper date”. The basket was one of those clichéd ones with the flap for a lid that you might see in the movies- it looked brand new too. Sniper knew he shouldn’t have written home about the pyro, but what was he supposed to do? His mother wanted her son to find someone to spend his life with, and being able to tell someone about his feelings was a relief. In hindsight, though, he really should have expected that she would want to push him and any potential wife together as soon as possible. Though… a picnic didn’t sound like a bad idea at first, and Pyro had even agreed to it.

The basket was now filled with horrible looking sandwiches that the sniper himself questioned the edibility of, and a red and white checkered blanket. It was all so… clichéd.

More of his teammates were on base today, including one particularly annoying Bostonian. Sniper even made sure to wake early before sneaking in to the main kitchen, why the hell did Scout have so much energy? He was as early a riser as ever- even after staying out all night in town. Questions such as “what’re ya making?” , “Can I have some?” and “Can I come with?” poured from the boy until the Sniper finally snapped at him to be left alone.

One grumbling 24 year old later and Sniper was on his way, slightly regretting the fact that the scout would probably tell anyone he could that the Australian had some secret plans. He sighed and rubbed his eyes; that boy acted like a damn child.

Even if he had a fierce questioning to look forward to when he returned that evening, though… he was still in a relatively good mood. Any day they could see the BLU without having to kill her was a good day. The sniper pulled his van to a stop a few miles off road from the base split off and waited for his companion to arrive.

 

Pyro woke somewhere around seven am to take care of things around the base- nothing too important, mainly tidying up or washing clothes. A chuckle escaped their mask as they passed Scout’s open door while heading to the laundry room; the boy was apparently out all last night and was now sprawled out half-on-half-off his bed. The poor kid always seemed so tired, even if he had a full night’s sleep. It honestly amazed the BLU that he could move at any speed past a tired wobble during fights.

The pyro looked up to the large wall clock of the laundry room, setting a basket of assorted clothes on the floor. They left the detergent scented room and headed back to their room for a quick change of clothes before leaving.

Pyro decided not to ask for rides from their teammates after that first experience with Dell, and it was honestly a risky and bad idea in the first place. However, walking everywhere quickly became tiresome. They and the sniper decided it was best for him to drive the two of them in his van- and even though it was difficult to find a place far enough from the base that they wouldn’t be seen yet was still in walking distance- they soon found a patch a ways off the road where no security cameras could reach.

They left the base around eight o’clock, making sure nobody of consequence saw them leave. The firebug could tell Engineer was suspicious of something; anyone who knew the Texan would be able to read him, really. He always kept the same smile he used when around his teammates if something was wrong… but anyone who had spent any time with the man could notice the difference in the tone of his voice and the way he spoke. It was sort of frightening really…

It only took a few minutes to reach the van. The vehicle didn’t really stand out from the colours of the desert, it actually blended in to the dirt and brush quite nicely from afar! Still, though, Pyro couldn’t help but worry about being seen. The past month went well but who knows what could happen. The BLU sighed as they knocked on the door in an attempt to push the thoughts to the back of their mind, they should just try and focus on their date for now.

The drive to the park was short, filled mostly with silence and very little conversation past general “you look good”s and “how did you sleep?”s . Not talking was more than fine with pyro. Even as a child they never really liked talking, and the thought spending time with someone in silence was wonderful. They were so, so happy the sniper understood that –unlike other young mercenaries who filled every moment with blabbering.

Pyro looked out the window, the basket sitting between them creaking as the car moved down the poorly kept roads of teufort. Everything felt… right, for once.

 

The park was far emptier than usual. Granted, it was outside of teufort on the far side from any residential area, but there were usually at least a dozen visible people at any time. However, today Pyro counted maybe one or two people in the time it took to walk to their usual spot. Maybe it was because it was earlier in the day than the two usually visited… The BLU tried to shake the uneasy feeling it gave them, absent mindedly reaching out and holding on to the sniper's hand.

Sniper smiled at the shorter, "Something wrong Sheila?"

Pyro snapped to look at the Australian, shaking their head and pulling their hand back to fiddle with their fingers, "no, itf fhin. Ihm fhin,"

He shrugged and let out a snort of air, setting down the basket and reaching in for the checkered blanket. The firebug watched as the sniper laid everything out neatly on the cloth; plates were placed neatly on the fabric with messily made sandwiches, and two cups and a pitcher of some sort of juice were placed in the center. It amused the pyro how much detail the RED was putting in to laying everything out. They couldn’t help but let a giggle escape their grinning mouth.

The aussie held a hand out to Pyro, which they promptly took, “What’s so funny now?” He led them to the blanket and sat down

“Nhofing, thif if nife,” They smiled, even though they were sure the sniper probably couldn’t see it.

He leaned back on his palms, “That’s good to hear… I was actually worried you wouldn’t want to do this,”

Pyro looked to him, head cocked to the side “why?”

Sniper paused, sitting up straight again, “Well I just figured you might be uncomfortable… you know with…” he waved a hand in front of his face, “the mask?”

The BLU stared blankly at him for a moment, before slamming their palm against their forehead. The mask. Right. The prospect of a lunch date sounded so nice that they had actually forgotten that you have to _eat_ at one. Well… you don’t have to but they wanted to.

The sniper snorted, “Did you really not think about that?”

The pyro shook their head and groaned, drawing a chuckle from the taller man, “You don’t have to eat if you feel uncomfortable, or I could just look away if you wanted,”

“Noh, I whnna eht what yhu mhde,” they took a breath, “I fhnk I’ll bh okhy, ther arh fhw enhugh pehple here,”

Sniper really didn’t want Pyro to feel uneasy; maybe a lunch date really was a bad idea… He sighed, silently cursing putting his them in a position like this, “Sorry Sheila,”

Pyro shook their head, smiling, “Dhn’t bh,”

The BLU picked up the closer sandwich to inspect its contents, desperately wanting to change the subject. It looked like lettuce and tomatoes with dark mustard and… some sort of meat. It didn’t really have the same color as beef or ham, but it did not look bad!  

Pyro pointed from the food and to their mouth “Uhm, I’m ghnna…”

“Oh right, sorry!” The aussie quickly turned his attention to the far side of the park, noting that more people seemed to have arrived. He made sure to wait till he heard the rustle of the BLU’s rubber mask moving back over their face before looking back to see a large bite from the sandwich. The two made an easy rhythm of Sniper looking away and Pyro taking a bite after the first few times’ awkwardness. The next half hour was filled with talk of animals and favorite colors, mostly from Pyro.

 

The sniper sat back and watched the fire bug as she explained the colors of different fires in great detail. He let out a silent sigh and smile while watching her. She was adorable, and even if what different minerals made different colors of fire didn’t really interest him, he loved hearing her muffled voice. Pyro was absolutely something special in his book; she could hold her own in a fight and could kill so easily, yet she still liked wearing dresses and skirts… She was the ideal girl for him.

“Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful,” he thought to himself. And she was, even if he had never seen her face… even if her face was covered in scars like she told him, she was gorgeous. She was gorgeous, and he loved her.

Pyro looked up at him, slightly confused expression showing through her gas mask. Shit, had she asked him something?

“what dhd yhu jhft fhy?” the blu leaned in closer to the aussie.

Oh. Being alone for months and months on end had a tendency to cause a few things. Mostly it caused discordances in social interaction, but is also had a habit of causing people to accidently say thoughts aloud. What would you expect from only having yourself for company for so long? It had been quite a while since it last happened to Sniper; he honestly thought he had gotten over it after being on his team for a year… but apparently not.

“No I just mean… You are…” he sighed, “Nothing. It’s nothing,”

The BLU shook her head before poking at his arm, “Noh, I heardh yho fhy fhmething!”

The sniper looked at the pyro, frowned, and took in a small breath before speaking, “What I meant to say was… you are beautiful?” stammering like an eighth grader with a crush. Smooth.

Pyro giggled, leaning against the RED’s shoulder. It felt… nice. It was the first physical contact aside from their fights or seldom hand holding, and it felt nice. Sniper looked down at the BLU before hesitantly leaning against her, letting their weights keep them up. He moved his hand to be on top of her gloved one; everything felt right.

 

They didn’t stay much longer at the park. More people showed up over the half hour they were there, and they both figured it was a bad idea for Pyro to eat or for them to continue sitting as they were with others around. The twenty minutes it takes to drive to the split off from the park felt like minutes as they talked, and all too soon their idle chat was cut short.

The driver looked to the pyro, “Next week then?”

Pyro nodded, humming a “Mmhmm!” in response.

The two sat for a moment, Pyro looking at the sniper.

“What is it?” She usually left immediately after he parked the van… his mind flooded with thoughts suddenly. Maybe he had gone too far with the physical contact today. Shit, what if he made her uncomfortable?

“… Clohf yhur eyef” The Australian blinked, but soon complied and shut his eyes. A moment of silence passed before he heard a familiar rustle of rubber. Sniper then felt a soft pair of lips touch his own chapped ones for just a moment, before hearing Pyro move her gas mask back over her mouth.

The sniper slowly opened his eyes to see the BLU exiting his van, leaving him with a slight blush, confusion and growing smile showing on his face.


	11. A Friend Indeed

Sniper sat back in the driver’s seat, tracing his lips with the tips of his fingers. Had she really just kissed him? It was so gently… just like the way she touched his cheek all those weeks ago.   He closed his eyes, reliving the short contact again. A smile crept across his face as thoughts rushed through his head.   What did this mean for their awkward little relationship? They couldn’t keep lying about being “just friends” any longer. Maybe this meant they were actually dating.

His smile grew in to a grin, fingers clutching the steering wheel tightly. This was great! Though being together would be hard with their line of work, he was sure they could-

The RED was yanked from his thoughts once he heard the loud slam of his camper door. What the hell? How could anyone have even opened it, the door was locked… The sniper stood and walked through the small door which lead to the living area of his vehicle.

Of all people… In front of him, perched in all his dapper glory atop the sniper’s bed, sat the spy. Bloody spooks…

“Allo, Bushman,” The Frenchman glanced up to his fellow RED from a box of cigarettes, which he had produced from his pocket. His expression was intense, a mix of anger and… disappointment?

Sniper stood with a blank stare for a moment before snarling, “What the hell are you doing in my van?” He struggled to keep himself from yelling at the other man. Why… why did he have to appear now of all times?

“I believe you know why,” The spy lit a cigarette, taking a long drag before blowing it in the sniper’s direction.

“And I don’t believe I do,” He leaned against the small doorway. He didn’t remember seeing the spy or his cloaked outline outside the van, but then again he had not really been looking. If Spy had seen him and Pyro… he would have a lot more problems than simply getting the smoke smell out of his van.

“How long have you been watching?” He would hate to have accidently outed the BLU’s face to Spy. She would never trust or feel safe around him again if he had.

“Only long enough to pass zhe Pyro, I assure you that I saw nozhing of detriment,” The spy sighed, “But you should not be spending so much time with zhat BLU…” he shook his head, hiding the box of smokes and lighter away in his pocket, “It would be unfortunate if anyone found out about a relationship with zhe enemy. You do remember what happened with zhe cyclops, non?”

Damn… They should have just found a safer place to meet, one further away from the bases, “Course I remember…”

Spy stood, walking up to the taller man, “Good, zhen I suggest the two of you stop zhis relationship before either of you gets hurt,”

He scoffed, “You’re one to talk about relationships,” Spy had no right to lecture him about who he could or couldn’t spend time with, and the red he was seeing at the moment wasn’t helping his temper or conversational sills.

The European narrowed his eyes, “And what are you insinuating?”

“Oh nothing, but I wonder… how is your little mistress doing?” Egging the spy on might not be the best tactic, but the rage was going to come out in some way or another, and he knew the spy could take it.

“Leave my relationships out of this Bushman” After being friends- well close acquaintances with the spy for so long, it was easy for the sniper to pick up on the small twitch of the lip to signify anger.

The side of the Australian’s mouth quirked upward for a moment. It was always nice to get under that finely groomed façade Spy put on for everyone to see- pushing a little harder could never hurt, right? The best outcome would send the Frenchman away from his van faster after all, “When are you planning on telling the twins, huh? I think the pikers deserve to know who their father is,”

It wasn’t hard to figure out. Sure, most of the mercenaries looked alike- they were meant to. None of them, however, looked as alike as the scouts. None of them sounded so alike from team to team, and absolutely none of them got as offended by maternal insults as the two Bostonians. It most likely stemmed from insults from their childhood, being that everyone counted them as illegitimate. Nobody got to know that their father was really just a contracted killer who left for months on end- not even the children themselves.

The spy frowned, attempting to keep his composed look, “What I tell zhem iz my business, not yours,”

The two REDs shared a long glance, “I came here to inform you that your relationship is becoming careless,” He put a gloved hand in to his suit coat and brought forward an envelope.

Sniper’s blood boiled even hotter once the spy took out its contents; photos of him and Pyro together.

He grabbed for them, only to have Spy pull the papers out of his reach, “Zhese are zhe only copies, but if it iz zhis easy for me to find zhe two of you together, what would stop zhe BLU Spy? He most likely does not hold zheir pyro in as high regard as I do you, and would rat you out in an instant,” He replaced the photographs into the envelope and tossed it on Sniper’s bed, “ If you do not reprimand your negligence, one of you iz going to be taken off respawn someday soon. I am not wrong in assuming zhat you do not want zhis, non?”

The sniper averted his gaze. Of course he didn’t want that, but he also didn’t want to stop spending time with Pyro… though… Spy was right. What if Miss Pauling or the Administrator caught them or saw them on camera? He would hate to end their relationship, but he would hate her dying even more.

Sniper was drawn from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder,“I am not your enemy, Clarence. I will keep your secret, but you must be careful,” Spy gave his teammate a weak smile, “I understand more zhan anyone zhat love can make a man do idiotic zhings, but I do not want to be dragged down wizh you when zhe two of you are found out,”

The Frenchman removed his hand from the taller’s shoulder and turned to leave, “And believe me, bushman. At zhe rate you two are going, you will be caught.”

Spy exited the van, putting out his cigarette in the dusty road outside the vehicle. He was right, though. The two of them were being careless, and his sudden attitude changes were not helping divert suspicions.

He sighed as he moved to sit on his bed. What should he do… If things kept on, one of them was going to be killed- or they would be forced to kill each other permanently. What happened to Tavish would be a horrible end for their relationship… Sniper moved back to the front of his camper, driving the short distance back to his base.

There was no sign of Spy on the way, though he didn’t really care to see him again any time soon. An ally was a good thing to have in his situation… Maybe he shouldn’t have said those things about his family. Burning the one sturdy bridge he had was probably one of the stupidest things he could have done, but the blinding anger he felt toward his own stupidity was filling him to the top. How could he have been so stupid?

He moved to the back of the van, laying out on the bed. Everything smelled like those disgusting French cigarettes- a reminder of his foolishness he supposed. The aussie let out a sigh before closing his eyes. There was only one option that made sense at this moment.

Love makes you do stupid things, but it was his job to act on the one smart choice he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, the start of the first real plot arc! Hope you all like the story so far.


	12. A Friend in Need

They did not go to the park the following week as instructed by a note delivered via arrow through the BLU medic’s head. Sniper didn’t give any reason as to why he was calling off their weekly meeting, only saying that he couldn’t see the pyro this week. Pyro didn’t think much of it, really. There was the momentary worry that they had done something wrong but the BLU pushed that thought aside as quickly as it appeared.

Sniper enjoyed their meeting and, judging by the way he smiled as they left his van last week, the kiss did not seem to offend him. They were not too worried… that is not at first. The next week’s capture the flag missions went well. Both teams won and lost – the REDS winning more than the BLUs- and nothing seemed too out of place.

Thoughts continued to run through the BLU’s head as they ran across the blocked off train tracks and into the RED’s sewer system. Why did he call off their meeting? Was the RED team becoming more suspicious of why he was leaving every weekend? They listened from the tunnel just out the drop from the RED spawn; they would be hunted down if they had to kill someone fresh out. The pyro trotted to the base of the steps, grabbing the small bottle of pills and refilling their weapon’s gas tank.

Double Cross had to be one of their absolute favorite battle fields. You have to keep an actual strategy in your head if you want to win, if you don’t you will be easily picked off by a sentry on the bridge or by an opposing sniper.   Sniper… Maybe something was wrong. Usually they would catch a glimpse of a small red dot around them at some point during the week, but it was already Thursday and they had seen neither hide nor hair of the Australian. They never thought they would miss the RED watching them, but the lack of any sign of him was… disheartening.

Pyro rushed up the stairs to the RED spawn, the beeping and whirring of a sentry coming from a direction they couldn’t quite discern. They whipped around the corner from the door as they heard that all-too familiar sound of the spawn gate opening. They were so close to the sniper’s overhang too… The BLU clung to the corner, crouching as an enemy demoman rushed by and over the railing. This was a terrible place to be.

They jumped down in front of the second spawn door. Nobody ever used it except for snipers and spies, so they were probably safe for now. They could hear the aussie’s gruff voice grumbling from around the corner on his little ledge. Could they go talk to him? There was that small space with only one window they could go hide in to talk… But should they go was probably a better question. They peeked around the railing to see inside the intel room.

There were no sentries in sight, though there could possibly be one hiding under the stairs. Still, it seemed like it would be easy enough for Scout to swoop in and get back if he had his soda popper. Pyro glanced in the direction they assumed Sniper was in. Well… it surely wasn’t safe here.

 

 

The sound of creaking boards alerted him to someone’s presence. The spy had already gotten him twice this battle and he sure as hell wasn’t going to allow a third time. He snapped to look where the noise was coming from, but what he found was absolutely no spy.

He let out an irritated sigh. Great, this was just what he needed, “Did anyone see you coming over here?” he stomped over to the BLU Pyro, soon regretting letting his irritation take over after seeing her flinch.

The pyro shook her head, “I whldn’t bh herh if I whs feen,”

He rubbed his temples ,”wouldn’t be too sure about that, Sheila,” Why couldn’t she have just stayed away? He needed time to think and the battlefield was no place to do it. Scout could come jumping in at any moment, how on earth would he explain this away? He turned his attention back to the BLU in front of him, “What are you doing here?”

“I whnted fo check hn yhu… arh yhu okhy?” Pyro tentatively reached forward and put a hand on the other’s arm, “Yhu feem thnfe…”

“of course I’m bloody tense, we’re on a battle field,” He shouldn’t take his feelings out on her, he wanted to be with her more than anything… but that’s why he had to do this. He needed to end what they had to protect her.

He shook the hand off, “You need to leave” the sniper turned to go, but was stopped by a hand holding on to his shirt,

“whtf wrhng? Dhd… whf it fhmething I dhd?” Her voice sounded strained and upset; it hurt Sniper’s heart to hear her like this. Maybe he should forget about breaking it off and just turn around and hug her… He sighed. No, he had to do this to protect her, and even if she hated him after this was done, he would be happy that she was alive and well.

“Yeah, something is wrong… I…” he hesitated, choking on his own words, “I don’t want to see you again. We need our relationship to go back to being just business like it was before,” He turned to face the BLU, glad for once that he couldn’t see her expression.

“Wht… wht dh yho mhan? How chn yhu shy tht?” Her voice wavered, a mixture of confusion and pain, “I fhught… I fhught wh-“

“You thought wrong,” The sniper cut her off, “You need to leave before someone sees us… sees you,” He turned to leave once more, but was again stopped by the pyro’s hand. This time, however, her grip on his shoulder was strong enough to actually cause pain.

She spun him around to face her, “Nho! Fthy here hnd thll mh whatf wrhng… thll mh wherh thif if chming frhm!”

“look Sheila,” he rubbed his temples, before gripping his rifle tightly, “Leave before I have to make you,” He didn’t want it to end like this. He wanted to be able to end it off the battle field where there would be fewer bitter feelings. However, there was no more time to drag this out. Their teams would notice they were missing soon, and a curious Spy was the last thing this situation needed.

Sniper could swear he saw a frown through that rubber mask, “Ihm nht lhaving,”

“Pyro, please…”

“Mhke mh,”

 

 

The Australian did nothing for a moment, but soon hefted his weapon to the other’s head. He wouldn’t do this to the BLU, right? Well, sure he would kill them from time to time, and they would do the same to him! But… he would never kill them in a situation like this. They were having so much fun together and had gotten so close! They were just getting close enough to him to call him their datemate. There was no way…

There was a loud bang followed by darkness.

Respawn brought them back mere seconds after the lead pierced their brain. What had they done wrong to make their beloved Sniper act like this? The Pyro tried to walk forward, only to have their knees shrivel out from under them after the first step. They sat alone in the resupply room for a moment. He really had been avoiding them the past week… maybe the kiss really had been too far.

The BLU noticed a dripping sound from in the room, but paid little attention to is as they thought about what just happened. What an idiot. This had to be their own fault; they destroyed the one strong friendship they had because of a small bit of physical contact. Sniper probably just wanted to be friends and showed affection differently, though they really thought he loved them back.  

The resupply doors opened to reveal a very angry Engineer. His buildings were just destroyed from the looks of his stained jumper and broken parts sticking from his tool box. He nodded to the Pyro and walked over to the munitions cabinet, before setting down the red box and kneeling beside the firebug,

“Pahro? What’s wrong?” he draped an arm over the shorter’s shoulders and brought them closer to him.

Only now did the pyro realize where the dripping was coming from; themself. At some point after respawning they had begun to weep silently, leaving a stream on tears running down the interior of their mask and through their air filter.

They leaned against the Texan, welcoming the comforting touch.


	13. A Word of Advice

A couple of weeks had gone by since they last talked to Sniper. The base switch over to Snowfort finally happened, and somehow Pyro managed to channel their feelings of anger and confusion towards winning battle after battle- surprising and somewhat frightening the rest of the BLU team. Their teammates obviously knew something had changed, who wouldn’t? You can’t just go from the happy firebug they all knew to a quiet and reclusive sack of mumbles for no reason. It was rather disturbing to be quite honest. The rest of their team did try to figure out what was wrong, but most decided to leave the pyro be after getting a barrack door slammed in their face and being told to leave them alone. Their team was winning anyway, so was there really a problem?

Engineer, however, knew better. The Texan seemed to be the only one who persisted in talking to Pyro- well other than Scout, but he probably just blabbed to anyone who wouldn’t interrupt him. The engineer would invite Pyro to his workshop while he tinkered with some new machinery or another. He never prodded them to talk… just to sit and be near someone.

It was actually somewhat nice to sit on the stocky man’s cot and watch him work on methodically. They even began to notice his mannerisms of grinning and chuckling when something worked out or biting his lip when something broke. Pyro genuinely appreciated the Texan trying to help them… but it didn’t really take away the hurt feeling in their chest.

No matter how many medics they burned or how many spies they set ablaze or even how many times they hit the Australian with their scorch shot… Nothing seemed to help.

The BLU sat on their bed, clutching one of their many stuffed animals to their chest. Why did losing something you never expected to have hurt so much? They had fully come to terms with never being loved- who could even love a scarred murderer like them? Romance was never something they really needed anyway… They just wanted to make themself numb!

A knock on the door brought them from their sulking, followed the scout entering their room with a “Yo mumbles!”.

They could have sworn they locked their door…

“Wht do yhuu whnt?” Pyro set their plush horse to their far side once the boy sat on their bed; they weren’t really in the mood for being teased right now,

“Nothin’, just comi’ ta talk,” The scout lounged back on the pyro’s blue quilt, “Don’t mind do ya?”

They jabbed the younger in the side with their knee, “Acfuhlly yhf, I dh,”

The scout snorted from the sudden contact, taking the hint to sit up, “Great! Let’s talk!”

“Buh I fhid-“

“What’s been up with you mumbles? “ The Bostonian interrupted them before they could properly tell him to get lost, “Y’ve been actin’ like a sad sack lately,”

Pyro looked at the boy for a moment before turning their attention to the fuzzy carpeting that covered the floor, “Nhne hf yhur bufhneff…”

Scout sighed, ignoring the wall Pyro was trying to put between them, ”I’ve seen th’ look on that masked face a’ yours before,” The pyro raised an eyebrow as the boy leaned in closer , “It’s th’ look ova broken heart!” He wrapped an arm around the other BLU’s shoulder,

“Wh… hw dhd,,,?” The firebug brushed the arm off, causing the boy to fall on their bed. Scout didn’t seem to mind, though, being that he immediately nuzzled in to the soft blue fabric.

He looked up from his place snuggled against the other’s blankets, “I grew up with seven brothas. It ain’t hard to know that look, even if it IS hidden behind a mask,”

The two sat in silence for a while. Pyro sort of wanted to tell someone about their pain- then maybe it would go away! But they knew Scout was not the person to tell. The yawning boy loved gossip, and he loved sharing it with their team even more.

“You wanna talk about it?” The Scout was inevitably the one to break the silence. His words didn’t sound malicious or confrontational, but actually sincere.

“…noh” The firebug turned to face the boy who was now sprawled out on their bed. He still looked as tired as ever,

“Well… If you want my opinion-“

“I dhn’t”

“You should talk to em’,”

Pyro sighed, picking up their plush horse and hugging it tightly, “Tht dhdn’t goh fh whll whn I trihd ht bhforh…” Memories of how cold Sniper acted flooded their mind. If they tried talking to him again… The grip on their stuffed animal tightened,

“But ya’ really like this person, yeah?” The pyro nodded slowly in response, “Well ya’ gotta keep tryin’ then!” The boy sprung up into a sitting position to better face the pyro,

“ ‘S what I do! I ain’t never givin’ up on Miss P. Yeah I’ll give her some space after she rejects me, but I always try again. I know she’ll come around one a’ these days,”

Pyro chuckled, “ I dhn’t fhnk tht’f th rhght lhffon th thke awhy frhm tht,”

“’Course it is! Ya’ can’t give up on someone ya’ love,” The runner got up from the pyro’s bed and patted their shoulder, “Trust me on this buddy,”

Pyro watched as the boy left their room just as quickly as he had barged in. Maybe they should try talking to Sniper again… The worst that could happen is that he would kill them again. They flopped backwards on to their bed, holding their horse in the air above them. Could they really handle rejection again? A second talk to confirm that their relationship was truly over wasn’t a bad idea though…

Their door flung open once more, causing them to jump in surprise and drop their plush. Scout poked his head in through the doorway and chuckled at his startled comrade,

“ ’s nice and chilly outside right now. You should go out for a walk,”

“Wht?”

“It might help ya’ think or somethin’, just trust me,”

The pyro looked questioningly at the scout as he disappeared once more in to the halls of Snowfort. Scout was asking them to trust him too much today… though a walk didn’t seem too bad. Pyro liked to know the area around their base, and with them-for lack of a better word- sulking ever since the base change they hadn’t really gotten to look around.

A walk in the cold to clear their mind might be just the thing they needed.


	14. A Right Choice

“…A walk,” The Australian looked at the boy from his place on his pull-out bed.

Scout somehow managed to barge into his camper- even though he was sure the door was locked- and begun blathering on about something or another. Honestly, he tuned the boy out after he didn’t leave immediately when Sniper yelled at him, only focusing back on the boy’s words when he asked

“So what’s been eatin’ ya’ up lately?”

Weird… The scout almost never talked about anything other than himself, and he absolutely never asked how someone else was doing,

“How is it your business?” The sniper’s words were curt, causing the boy’s brow to visibly furrow,

“It ain’t hard t’ see you’ve been distracted lately. We’ve even been losin’ t’ the BLUs more lately!,” The red walked up to the foot of Sniper’s bed and looked down at him, lips pursing into a pout,

“Lady trouble?”

The Australian looked at the boy before sighing, averting his eyes to the corner of his camper, “Something like that…”

“I knew it!” Scout plopped down on the bed, closer to the sniper than he really needed to be, “I’d recognize the look ‘a heartbreak anywhere. So what happened? Didja’ catch her cheatin’ or somethin’?”

He shook his head, “no… she didn’t do anything wrong,”

“sooo… what’d YOU do?”

“…” The sniper thought for a moment. He didn’t have to tell the Scout, and to be honest he really shouldn’t. Though… the whole RED team suspected he had gained a significant other with how he was acting before. Maybe giving the team’s gossip a little bit of information wouldn’t be bad- especially is he stayed vague,

“I didn’t want her getting hurt by our line of work,” he huffed, hanging his head, “so I left her… and I think she hates me for it,”

The runner snorted, “Well that was fuckin’ dumb,”

“…excuse me?”

“She knew about ‘cher like ‘a work right? She probably knew what she was getting’ into,” Scout nudged his fellow red with his elbow

The aussie sighed, “It’s not that simple, mate,” He knew he’d made the right choice. Even if she seemed more deadest than usual on killing him… well she deserved to take her emotions out on him. That’s what he kept doing to her after all.

The Bostonian looked the taller up and down, before springing from the worn mattress, “Ya’ know what you need?”

“A pair of earmuffs and some aspirin?” he looked up to the boy now standing in front of him,

“Ya look like a guy who could really use a nice walk in the woods,”

The boy grinned to the man, somehow convincing him with a few more sentences that he should “take a walk, take in the scenery, and clear his head”. Bloody kid… What was he planning with this?

 

The sharp shooter wandered through the tall pine trees of around their new base. He was already parked pretty far in to the forest to be away from the noise of the base, but he had never ventured this far into the green. It was cold and windy, which he hated, and it was impossible to reliably see dangers in the thick foliage, which he hated even more. The RED base was quickly leaving his line of sight from behind him, but he pushed on anyway. His body moved on its own to some unknown destination as he thought to himself.

He made the right choice. He made the right choice. He made the right choice.

He repeated the statement in his mind over and over. It had become a habit to do that when he needed to convince himself of something, he supposed.

He made the right choice. He made the right choice. He made… the right choice?

Did he really? His performance had improved since he and the pyro started seeing eachother- the both of them had even developed a sort of competitive spirit toward eachother! Now that they were separated, however, his performance was worse. Heartbreak was… dumb.

He knew what should happen for their jobs, but what did he want?

He wanted the “whole” feeling in his chest that he got when around her back.   He wanted his focus on his work again. He wanted-

A snapping twig ripped him from him thoughts, stopping Sniper in his tracks. He looked behind himself to see a branch hanging limply from a tree. The breeze must have broken it off, but he soon realized he had more pressing matters to worry about. Where the hell was he? He couldn’t see the RED base behind him anymore and there was absolutely no sign of his camper. Damnit… he didn’t even have a weapon with him. He looked around at his surroundings. If he walked straight back the way he came he would arrive at the base, right?

He looked to the horizon line, further deepening the churning at the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t see much, but it didn’t take a genius to make out the blue colored building and giant “Builders League United” sign above it. Perfect, he _absolutely_ needed to be shot at the enemy base.

Sniper turned to leave starting back in the direction, but was quickly stopped by a familiar hand holding on to his shoulder.


	15. A New Start

Scout was absolutely right! The weather outside was cold and breezy, which was perfect for the BLU’s layered clothes. Their coat flapped in the breeze as they walked through the trees. What was on the other side of this forest? Maybe the other base, but that seemed far too close. Pyro wondered what Sniper was doing right now. He always said he didn’t like spending time with his team that much… They worried about him spending so much time alone and without anyone to talk to…

They nuzzled their chin deeper into their purple scarf as a particularly strong gust of wind blew past. It still smelled faintly of cigarettes and cologne; a faint remainder from its creator. The BLU spy wasn’t good with words when it came to things such as friendship, but you know the Frenchman has fond feelings for you when you find clothes or crochet scarves in your work locker. He was probably worried about them too- their whole team seemed to be! Medic even called them in for a checkup, which turned out to be an excuse to talk with them about their mental state.

All in all, the pyro should be happy with their team and their life. Everyone around them accepted or at least dealt with their choices to wear dresses, and some even used “they” or “she” pronouns instead of male ones… They should hurry up and get over their hurting heart and forget about—

Pyro ducked behind a tree once they saw the tall Australian walking by. Why was he here? How far had they walked into the forest? They followed him from a good distance, hiding behind foliage when he looked back. Sniper was headed in the direction of the BLU base… if he got too close he would absolutely be seen.

Sniper didn’t seem to have a set destination in mind; he didn’t really look focused on his surroundings at all. They wanted to get closer to him, to say something maybe… but what if he didn’t want to see them?

Pyro reached out to prop themself against a nearby tree, but quickly realized how bad of idea it was.   The pine trees in this area seemed to be very brittle (most likely from the brisk winds) which caused fragile and small off shooting branches. In not watching what they were doing they broke one off, and it now hung limply from the tree.

Shit. They swiftly hid behind the tree before the aussie could see them. He seemed to be distracted enough by the sound, giving them ample opportunity to maneuver through the green to the other side of the sniper.

He was leaving already? Maybe the sound of the branch made him think someone was following him- well someone was kind of following them but... They wanted… no needed to talk to him. What if he actually HAD come to see them?

Pyro found their body moving on its own as they grabbed on to the taller’s shoulder.

Sniper stopped dead in his tracks; not pulling away or moving from the grip whatsoever. He simply turned to face the pyro,

“Sheila?”

“Wht hre yhu dhing herh?” they took their hand from his shoulder,

He thought for a moment before speaking, "just... out for a walk,"

they chuckled, "mh foo,"

The red smiled, he really did love the sound of their laugh…

Pyro fidgeted in their boots while the two stood in silence,

"wh... why dhd yhu," they swallowed hard, trying to think of the right words and force their mouth to say them, " why dhd yhu brhak hp- lehvh mh?"

The sniper stared at the BLU for a good time without a word. Fine. It was fine if he didn't want to tell them.

They sighed, "fhrght ht” pyro turned and began walking back in the direction of the BLU base, only to be stopped by a strong pair of arms that wrapped around their shoulders.

 

Sniper held the pyro in a warm embrace from behind, just wanting her to stay. It took a moment to gather the words to tell her, "I wanted to protect you. I don't want you to get hurt because of me or our relationship. If we kept on like we were... so I figured,"

Pyro twisted in the man's arms to face him, "nh"

"No?"

"nh," she shook her head, "I dhn't nhd yhu foo prhthct mh," the firebug looked up to Sniper, leaning up to touch their foreheads together,

"But if we're found out... you remember what happened to Tavish and your soldier,"

Pyro shrugged, "I'd rhther ght hrt bhing whth yhu thn hrt hll th thme bhing whthout yhu. Dhn’t try fo hct hn mhy behlf fhr dhmb fhngf lhke tht,”

The two looked into each other’s eyes before grabbing each other into their arms,

"I'm sorry I hurt you" He knew it would hurt her to leave, and he was willing to live with her hating him, but the truth was that they needed eachother, and they would just have to find a way to be together.

" I knhw"

"I love you,"

"I lhve yhu foo" pyro smiled and held him tighter.

The pair stayed like that for a minute or two, each taking in as much of the other's warmth as they could. Sniper was the one to pull away first, though not to leave. He looked down at the other for a moment as if thinking of what to say,

"I... want to kiss you,"

Pyro nodded,” Okhy, clohf yhur ey-“

“No,” he interrupted the other, “I want to actually kiss you,”

oh. The BLU stood there holding the other's hand before slowly nodding an 'ok'. Sniper slipped his fingers under the base of her mask and began to lift it up. He continued pulling it gently over her head until short orange locks fell out from the rubber garment.

He had to take a moment to take in all her features once the mask was completely removed.

Her skin was a gorgeous shade of olive and was dotted with dark freckles around her cheeks and ears. She had large scars which covered her left eye and right cheek, and more poking up from under her scarf. Her hair was the most beautiful shade of red he had ever seen. That is what you call that orange hair, right? Oh he didn’t care. The short and mussed hair was wonderful and beautiful and he loved it. Sniper brushed aside the scraggly bangs which covered her eyes… goodness her eyes. They were the color of carnelian and glistened elegantly in the fading sunlight. He grazed a thumb over the light bit of stubble on her chin absently as he gazed at her face.

“…Not what you were expecting?” She spoke, and he couldn’t help but grin. Her voice was light and beautiful and somehow even more wonderful that he ever imagined. God it was a mistake trying to push her away.

He shook his head, leaning down and bringing their lips together for a long kiss, “No, you’re perfect,”

He loved her. He loved every part of her.

They stayed there in the forest on the far outskirts of the BLU base for a long while, simply enjoying eachothers’ touch and company.


	16. An Interlude

The loud crackle of a walkie-talkie forced him to look away from the scene unfolding below him, “Hey, they see eachotha’ yet?”

The BLU scout picked up the small crackling box and held a button on the side before speaking, “Yeah looks like we’re good. Didja’ know mumbles had red hair?”

“C’mon man don’t tell me what it looks like, s’ weird enough it’s datin’ Snipes,” a joking tone came in response from the small communication devise

Footsteps from behind the BLU scout alerted him that the man he had been waiting for was finally there. If you tell someone to meet you on a cold and windy roof, the least you could do is show up on time,

“Whevea, gotta go,” He sighed before turning off the walkie-talkie and turning to face the BLU spy who stood behind him,

“It iz done, I zee,” The frenchman walked to the scout and produced two cigarettes from a small carton,

“Yeah, ‘s pretty cute an all,” the younger took the offered smoke as he talked, ”but why’d ya want me t’ do…” he gestured to the out of sight couple, ”Well all a’ that?”

The spy lit his and the scout’s cigarettes with a match before stomping it out on the roof beneath them, “It iz better for our teams if zhey are togezher,”

He took a drag of his cigarette, “Zhey still kill eachozher and aid zheir teams well enough. Besides, zhey were making zhe teams unbalanced when separated,” The spy leaned against the railing of the building

“What’s bad about that though? We were winnin’!” The slightly shorter man took a drag of his smoke. These were probably the reason he was so lethargic and unhealthy, but damnit if he didn’t love these! Spending time smoking with Spy didn’t dissuade him either...

The euroupean made a clicking sound with his tongue, shaking a finger at the younger, “But our petit chaton’s rage or grief or whatever was fueling zhem towards victory would definitely run out sooner zhan later,” He took another breath of his cigarette, “I do not want to lose one of our strongest teammates simply because of a broken heart,”

“Or you’re just a big softie,” The scout chuckled in response, receiving a cold glance from the balaclava clad man to his left,

“Non, I assure you I was merely thinking of what iz best for our team. My RED counterpart obviously does not understand zhe delicate balance of zheir situation,”

“huh?” Scout raised an eyebrow to the other

“Separation iz not always zhe best resolution,” He allowed a puff of smoke to escape his lips as he spoke,” zhough I do hope they are better wizh zheir secret zhis time”

The two stood in silence for a while before the spy put out the butt of his cigarette under his loafer, “You are sure zhe ozher Scout will stay silent? It was hard enough getting to zhe ozher base unnoticed and disguising az him,” He moved from his spot on the railing to stand in front of Scout, “Zhe last zhing we need iz zhat boy telling zhe ozher team about zhe two of zhem,”

“Nah,” Scout took one last drag of his smoke before flicking the remainder to the ground, “He won’t tell. Even if he wanted to he’s too proud t’ say ‘Hey guys! I let the enemy spy in ‘cuz my brotha’ told me to! Also our sniper’s a traitor!’”

Spy snorted, “You are lucky zhere are no camera up here,”

The boy shrugged and looked down to the foliage below. Sniper and Pyro were gone, probably off kissing more or something. He didn’t really understand them or why their relationship was any of their business to fuck with. Spy was just a sap who cared about pyro too much- or at least that was the easiest way he could think of it. He would trust Spy that this was the best decision for their team.


End file.
